AP, Ankara
An Austrian student and journalist says a Turkish court has acquitted him and two others of terror-related charges.
Max Zirngast was taken into custody in September 2018 after Turkey accused him and two other people of “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” They were accused of links to the Turkish Communist Party/Kivilcim. If convicted, Zirngast could have faced a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Merkel still sees ‘every chance’ for Brexit deal
AFP, Berlin
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday she believed agreement could still be reached with Britain on an orderly exit from the EU, pledging to fight for a deal.
Speaking to the Bundestag lower house of parliament, the German leader said there was still time to hammer out a workable accord. “The EU will in a few months experience the exit of an important member, the exit of Britain,” Merkel said.
Three Australians detained in Iran
AFP, Sydney
The Australian government on Wednesday said three citizens had been detained in Iran, the latest in a series of Westerners to be seized by authorities in Tehran.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the families of three Australians detained in Iran,” a spokesperson told AFP. “Due to our privacy obligations, we will not comment further.”
Colombia threatens to denounce Cuba as sponsor of terrorism
AP, Bogota
Colombia threatened Tuesday to denounce Cuba at the United Nations unless it immediately turns over two guerrilla commanders believed to be living on the communist island.
The demand came in a letter sent to the Cuban Embassy in Bogota. President Ivan Duque first pressed Cuba to arrest two National Liberation Army leaders after the group claimed responsibility for a car bombing in January that killed 22 people at a Bogota police academy.
Afghans fear Trump’s Taliban move means more civilians die
AP, Kabul, Afghanistan
The sound of the blast ripped through Kabul, in an instant wrenching the Afghan capital’s attention from a nationally televised interview in which a United States envoy revealed the first details of a deal to end America’s longest war.
Last week’s Taliban car bomb targeted a foreign compound but instead shredded Afghan homes, with stunned and bloodied families picking up children and fleeing in darkness as their once-solid world collapsed. One family saw 30 relatives wounded – many of them women – including a son still healing from an attack the year before.
